US prisoner gouged out eyes after jail denied mental health care, lawsuit says

Colorado prisoner sues law enforcement, alleging officers ignored acts of self-harm and responded to schizophrenic episodes by beating and tasing him

A mentally ill Colorado prisoner gouged his eyes out and became permanently blind after jail officials repeatedly denied him treatment for psychosis despite multiple suicide attempts, according to a lawsuit.

Ryan Partridge, 31, sued Boulder law enforcement officials on Thursday, alleging that while he was jailed for months for minor offenses that were later dismissed, officers ignored numerous acts of self mutilation and responded to delusional episodes by beating and tasing him. Officials also ignored a judge’s emergency order to get Partridge psychiatric treatment, leaving him alone in his cell where he “plucked out his own eyeballs”, the suit said.

Getting tased and beaten, all that is stressful. What can be worse than that is the delusion that arises in isolation

Related: Britain’s prison suicide crisis: ‘There’s no political will. Dead prisoners do not win votes’

Continue reading... December 09, 2017 at 03:41AM